Dear Valve, what exactly is a Steam Box?

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When Valve announced its Steam Box in January at CES, we saw what was supposed to be a prototype of the console. Produced by Xi3, the little box shown was a very small form-factor PC, able to fit in the palm of your hand. Xi3 recently opened up pre-orders for that box, dubbed the Piston, but also stated it’s not a Steam Box. If you believed what the internet had to say, this news might’ve come as a shock, but we already knew the Piston wasn’t a Steam Box. Technically speaking, the Steam Box is actually clearly defined. Hypothetically speaking, though, no one has any idea what constitutes a Steam Box.

First, it must be noted that the prototype Steam Box shown off at CES, the Piston, wasn’t actually a Steam Box. Think of it as more of a spiritual prototype, or a proof-of-concept. The little box was made by Xi3, a company that sells similar little boxes that act as modular, small form-factor computers. Valve didn’t point to the Piston and state in a loud, booming voice, “This is the Steam Box.” It didn’t even point to the Piston and state “This is one of the Steam Box models.” The company pointed toward the Piston and said “This is what we are thinking of doing with the Steam Box.” So, if you read one of the many articles or tweets on the internet in the past few days that stated the Piston is suddenly not the Steam Box, don’t be disheartened, because it never was, and you were supposed to know that.

You might have also read that the Piston isn’t the (or a) Steam Box because it is shipping with Windows, and the true Steam Box is supposed to ship with Linux. However, Gabe Newell himself said that while the Steam Box will ship with some form of Linux, you’re free to install Windows over it if you want. On top of that, Newell said that Valve won’t be the only people making a Steam Box, and that any manufacturer can stuff whatever guttyworks into the box that can fit. So, if manufacturers can change the hardware, there will be different kinds of hardware for the console, and Valve is fine with you installing Windows on it (which can run Steam with Big Picture mode like a normal PC), then wouldn’t that make the Steam Box a regular small form-factor PC? Yes, but also nope.

It’s difficult to define the Steam Box. Whenever Valve releases an official one, it’ll be easier to point to that unit as the Steam Box. However, considering Newell’s statements about how different companies can make their own, and you don’t even need Valve’s chosen OS installed, what really makes a Steam Box a Steam Box? The only two vital cemented details we have are that it has to run Steam, and it should have a small form-factor. With the help of Steam’s controller-friendly Big Picture mode, you can make your own Steam Box right now. Or, you could buy the Piston, install Steam, and hook it up to your TV. Yeah, you could just hook your regular gaming rig up to your TV.

What the definition of a Steam Box really comes down to are two pieces of information that Valve hasn’t released. First, if the Linux-based OS will be specialized and optimized in such a way to where it acts as more of a game console than a traditional PC. For example, if the operating system is just the Steam client, removing a barrier of entry (albeit a very small barrier of entry — dealing with a traditional operating system) for more casual users. Second, what the controller ends up being like, and how the console interacts with it. Right now, with Big Picture mode, you can coherently navigate Steam with a controller, but that doesn’t mean every single game you can play through Steam has a coherent controller option. So, if the Steam Box is able to — somehow — translate all PC game controls to a couch-friendly controller, that would be a defining aspect that sets Valve’s console apart from being “just a small form-factor PC.”

So, the Piston isn’t an “official” Steam Box (which it never was), but considering it’s a literal box as well as a PC that can run Steam, it might as well be. The thing is, we don’t know if Valve has anything surprising up its sleeve regarding the Steam Box, so we can’t really define it yet. If you want a tiny PC that can plug into a TV and run Steam, though, you can get one right now pretty easily and call it whatever you want.

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McNo

“… and call it whatever you want.”

I propose calling it “A Box of Steam” a.k.a. “A Box of Hot Air”.

chojin999

Valve managers are more and more silly. Just plain pathetic. Confused minds. Too much drugs use indeed.
And now they claim that “the Piston” is not an official Valve console.. now it’s a “pirated/hackers” one, perhaps ?
All of a sudden they didn’t know that it was being released ?
Yeah, sure.. and cows can fly high in the sky…

disqus_LnZ8w1lW1X

Too much money? Don’t know how to spend it? How bout fixing steam’s software total garbage.

So instead of admitting that you were wrong in calling the Piston “a prototype of Valve’s upcoming Steam Box”, you try to change the definition of Steam Box? I realize Valve hasn’t given us much info on what exactly it will be, but that’s like calling my Samsung laptop a Macbook because I can hack OSX onto it.

http://liferot.com/dns/about J-Nu

sudo apt-get build-your-own-for-less & make-it-more-powerful

GSystems

Clever… But you forgot the other “&”. Thus: “sudo apt-get build-your-own-for-less && make-it-more-powerful”

Still clever :-)

http://liferot.com/dns/about J-Nu

Made a similar mistake before, and it took me a bit to figure out how the simple “lil” things can steal hours away from one’s life.

GSystems

Couldn’t agree more. At this point, I’ve trained myself to look at the small, simple stuff before going through the long arduous tasks.

Case in point: somehow, I managed to uninstall the gnome-control-center package last night, so I took a step back and went to sleep…it was late anyway. Today, finally noticed what needed to happen to get it back, and there you have it. It’s the simple stuff with most of these things.

Normally, someone else, brighter than you are in this particular subject, has already done the heavy lifting. That’s just the nature of the beast now-a-days… :-)

Valve’s Unwavering Minion

Those that bash the all mighty Valve shall be sent to Gabe Newell Hell… which is having to deal with a Red Ringed Xbox and shit customer support or a Playstation with long…. OH WAIT… thats RIGHT…. Thats not hell its REALITY. PC FTW VALVE IS THE BEST BITCHES

Bluesdealer

Ok, so here’s my question:

Out of the three major desktop operating systems, Linux has the smallest game selection. I love the IDEA of an open source console, but WHAT GAMES will we be able to play on a Steam Box, out of the box? Are we talking about some sort of wrapper or emulation for Windows-only titles?

I have yet to see an article address this issue.

GSystems

That’s because it’s not really an “issue” yet. Once the console/Box/approach/hardware is finalized, games will be developed for it. The kicker is that with this console being developed, whatever games that are created will increase the availability of games on Linux.

Step away from the situation and see it this way:

Games weren’t made for Nintendo’s Operating System until the Nintendo was created…same with Sega…and, well, same with Microsoft. All of these are platforms. Thus, since the Linux platform is the choice for Valve’s Steam Box, rest assured that games will be created for it, and, by intent, for Linux. It’s a win all around.

Linux users will have more games to choose from, and those who are unfamiliar with Linux, they’ll have their first touch and, hopefully, will get more curious and increase the users of Linux-based OSes…

The main reason game developers do not publish on Linux OSes is because the demand isn’t there, and because the profit isn’t there (more important in capital-driven societies).

Lastly, with Ubuntu making serious power-moves, Valve doing the same, and Microsoft and Apple lacking in the innovation and consumer-first departments, there is no better time to bang the drum of Linux…and the companies able to do as such are…

Celebrate!

Guy

Lets not forget that OpenGL is currently 20% faster than DirectX with all of the same features, allowing it to be run on smaller more cost effective hardware

I wish people would stop spreading that link around, it’s totally bogus, over 1 year old already.
It compares l4d2 remade for linux by the VALVE-LINUX team to the windows version not fully optimized and running on an unknown version of directX.
I’d like to see how it compares to the dx11.2 version.

Dozerman

What 11.2 version?

http://www.facebook.com/jasonisunavailable Jason McAllister

I always though that the Steam Box should be themed The Weighted Storage Cube from the Portal game. But what is the point in making such a compact cute device and arming it with so many USB ports. That thing will look dumb with 18 wires running out of it. How about several HDMI ports instead, that at least is more useful, like running multiple TV for head to head play or something.

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